


Bidding War

by danielnelsen



Series: Danny Nelsen [10]
Category: Hollywood U: Rising Stars
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2015-06-03
Packaged: 2018-04-02 16:32:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4066870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danielnelsen/pseuds/danielnelsen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Date auction with the MC being auctioned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bidding War

Danny cleared his throat and adjusted his tie, staring at his reflection nervously. He glanced at Harrison, who he could also see in the mirror, who shot him an approving thumbs up.

“They’re gonna love you, Danny!” he grinned. “You’ll have them all in a frenzy!”

Harrison was hosting a series of fundraiser events and he had convinced Danny to sign up for the date auction. A room full of eager bidders was waiting just down the hall and he would have to spend the night with the winner until midnight. He knew that a lot of his friends were in the crowd, but most of them were still up-and-comers with hardly enough money to win him if anyone successful had a go.

Danny sighed. “That’s not  _exactly_  what I’m worried about,” he muttered under his breath, forcing a smile at himself.

“Aw, c’mon, man!” Harrison walked up to him and gave him a firm pat on the shoulder. “Even if you end up with someone you don’t like, it’s only for a few hours. And it’s for charity! Besides, you’ve got some loaded friends. Well, I say  _friends_ …” He winked at Danny. “I’m sure they’ll be all over you. I can tell you’re gonna bring in some serious cash, Danny!”

“Yeah?” Danny mused, hardly listening to him. He usually didn’t get nervous before  _anything_ , but the thought of potential strangers bidding on spending the whole evening with him was starting to make him feel slightly sick. He took a deep breath to steady himself, and Harrison rubbed his back, grinning.

“While you're out there, just remember to smile and look confident. For the first thousand dollars or so, you’ll probably have some bidders who aren’t too serious, so don’t worry about them. Remember that whoever wins has got to respect you, too. Just because they’ve bought you doesn’t mean they own you, okay?” Danny gave a small nod. “I’ve gotta go, but you should be on in about half an hour,” he advised. “Gotta get them warmed up before we bring you out, hey?” With a final grin, he strolled out of the room, shutting the door behind him and leaving Danny alone.

Danny sighed, readjusting his tie for what felt like the millionth time. It was going to be a long half hour.

* * *

 

About half an hour later, a young man entered the room and ushered him backstage. He peered out at Harrison, who was enthusiastically congratulating a woman from the crowd who seemed to have just won the auction for the man preceding him. He looked carefully at the large audience and swallowed hard, trying desperately to find a familiar face. He didn't have any luck, but told himself that that was just because he couldn't see their faces properly from the side. He hoped that was it.

As the new couple left the stage, Harrison stole a quick glance in Danny's direction and grinned. "Ladies and gentlemen and everyone otherwise, our next handsome bachelor of the evening is a young man of  _huge_  potential, both in Hollywood and as your date tonight. He's had great success on and off the silver screen as a director, an actor,  _and_  a model... Please welcome to the stage Mr. Danny Nelsen!"

Danny took a deep breath and stepped out onto the stage, striding over to Harrison as confidently as he could and shaking his hand.

Harrison tipped his microphone away from his face and whispered, "You alright, kid? You're looking a little pale."

Danny gave a curt nod and Harrison turned back to the crowd, barely missing a beat. As he continued his introduction of Danny and briefly reminded the crowd of the rules of the auction, Danny's eyes wandered over the crowd again. He gave a huge sigh of relief as he spotted Ethan sitting in the second row, and his smile became more genuine. Ethan gave him a thumbs up, and he gave him a small wave in return.

“Alright, let’s get this started!” Harrison announced. “Do I hear $100 to start?” Ethan immediately raised his bidding card. “Thank you, sir! Now, do I hear $150?”

For the next few minutes, the bidding went up in increments of fifty dollars, mostly between Ethan and a few people who were probably the non-serious bidders that Harrison had mentioned. A few of them he recognised from around the Hollywood U campus, but most of them he had never seen before. At about $900, they began to drop out. Ethan bid $950, and Harrison grinned.

“What do you say, people? Do we have one  _thousand_  dollars?”

There was a brief silence, before a card went up near the back of the crowd. Danny tried to make out who the person was and blanched. It was Luke. At least he was still just a college student, Danny reminded himself, and was probably as broke as the rest of them. He wouldn’t get very far against someone like Ethan. The two of them bid back and forth, raising by $100 and then $250 each time. As they passed $3000, Danny started to feel a little uneasy, and looked closer at Luke. He was sitting with some of the other students from Rho Gamma who were whispering with him and cheering him on. Danny’s heart sunk as he realised that they had probably teamed up to try to outbid Ethan. He couldn’t think of anything worse than having to spend the whole evening with Luke, especially if some of the other frat guys were there, too.

The bids continued to rise and Luke and his friends weren’t looking any less confident. Ethan began to look slightly uncomfortable at around $6000 and Danny chewed nervously on his bottom lip. Harrison seemed to be loving the exchange and was bouncing around the stage, encouraging both parties to keep bidding.

When Luke bid $6500 and Harrison asked for $7000, Ethan grimaced and his eyes met Danny’s. Danny gave him a desperate look, but Ethan only gave an apologetic shake of his head. A couple of Luke’s friends pat him on the back happily.

“I have $6500 from the young man in the back,” Harrison called. “That’s… $6500 going once!”

Luke folded his arms smugly and smirked at Danny, who felt sick.

“$6500 going twice…”

Harrison glanced over at Danny, his eyes full of regret. ‘Sorry,’ he mouthed subtly.

“Any final bids?” he asked, stalling. “Any at all?” The crowd was silent and Danny looked back at Ethan, who was frantically talking into his phone. “Looks like we’re all done here,” Harrison continued. He opened his mouth to continue, when a stern voice called out from the side of the audience.

“$7000.”

A few people gasped and all eyes turned towards the new bidder. Danny’s mouth dropped open and Luke scowled. It was Thomas Hunt.

“A new bidder!” Harrison cried excitedly. “Thank you, sir! Do I have $7500 from the gentleman in red?” He turned back to Luke who indignantly raised his card. Danny was still staring at Thomas, shocked. He bid $8000 and glared at Danny, as if somehow this was all his fault. Danny glanced back at Ethan, who looked just as surprised as he felt, but was still on the phone.

Harrison seemed positively thrilled with the new bidder, and was gleefully accepting more bids from Thomas and Luke. “$11,000? Do we have $11,000?” he chirped excitedly, and Thomas raised his card.

They went back and forth for a while longer, until Ethan suddenly shouted, “$15,000!”

The crowd broke out in murmurs, and Ethan grinned up at Danny, clutching his phone proudly. Seemingly outraged, Luke folded his arms and shook his head. Harrison turned to Thomas.

“$16,000 from you, sir?” he pressed. Thomas shook his head. “$15,500?” Again, Thomas refused, and Harrison pouted. “Come on, sir, it’s for charity!” Thomas visibly groaned and reluctantly raised his card. Ethan countered with $16,000, and Harrison managed to get another bid from Thomas.

Danny was finding it impossible to hide his grin, trying not to laugh at the competition between the two - his agent and very public boyfriend, Ethan, and his  _professor_  and secret lover, Thomas. The fact that they knew about each other only made it more amusing to him. He could tell that Thomas was secretly glad that Harrison was pushing him, because it meant that he had an excuse to keep bidding where there otherwise would have been no excuse. He was grateful that Thomas had saved him from Luke and his friends, but there was no good reason, from an outsider’s perspective, for him to continue now that Ethan was back in. He was wondering where Ethan had got his extra money from, though.

They were going up by thousands now, and Harrison managed to draw $19,000 from Thomas. Ethan bid $20,000, and gave a small sigh when Thomas bid $21,000.

“Can I get $22,000 from the gentleman in the second row?” Harrison prompted.

“$25,000,” Ethan offered, leaning back in his seat smugly.

Harrison and Danny both turned back to Thomas, who shook his head.

“Now, sir, you are missing out on the night of a lifetime,” Harrison spruiked. “How could you say ‘no’ to a date with this gorgeous young man?” He gripped Danny’s shoulder, while the director vibrated with repressed laughter. Thomas gave Harrison the coldest glare Danny had ever seen, and Harrison gave a nervous laugh. “Well, in that case… $25,000 going once… Going twice…” He took a last glance around the room, before returning his gaze to Ethan. “ _Sold_  to the gentleman in row two, for $25,000! Come on up!”

Ethan grinned and jumped to his feet, and made his way up onto the stage. He shook Harrison’s hand, and the host softly reminded him, “Just head into the next room to write up your cheque. The two of you have got to stick together until midnight, unless  _you_  decide otherwise - because you’re the one paying - and basically just keep everything legal and you’re good. Enjoy your night!” He clapped both men on the back, and Ethan pulled Danny into a hug as the crowd cheered.

“Come on,” Ethan said, taking Danny by the hand and leading him off the stage to applause. They heard Harrison begin to introduce the next date as they walked through into a room off the side of the hall. A young woman there had already prepared the cheque and Ethan took a few seconds to sign it. “There you go - $25,000.” He turned back to Danny. “You’re worth every cent.”

Danny shrugged. “Yeah, about that… You don’t have  _that much_  money to just throw away on something like this. You were out at $7000. What happened?”

Ethan have a small sigh, quickly checking his phone. “I think you’re about to find out. Let’s go.”

Danny followed Ethan out into the lobby, where one person was waiting for them.

“ _Chris?_  What are you doing here?” Danny asked, confused.

Chris pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and sauntered over to them. “Well, I couldn’t very well let you be snatched up by those godawful frat boys Ethan told me about, could I?” He pulled Danny in for a warm hug and a soft kiss, and Ethan cleared his throat.

“Chris is gonna make up the funds I can’t afford,” he explained. “He owes me about eighteen grand.”

“Huh,” Danny acknowledged, as Chris let go of him. “Well, thank you. There was no way I was going out with Luke tonight.”

Chris shrugged. “It was my pleasure. I do have a little something to discuss with Ethan before the night can formally begin, though,” he said, looking over at the agent.

Ethan sighed. “Give us a minute, Danny.”

Danny nodded and paced over to the other side of the room as the two other men talked. He whistled to himself for a few seconds, before Thomas suddenly walked into the room, obviously on his way out. He didn’t look at Danny as he passed him, but the director ran to his side and grabbed his arm.

“Professor!” he exclaimed, earning a derisive glare from Thomas. “I’m really glad I’ve got the chance to talk to you right now. I just wanted to thank you for stepping in there. Ethan sorted it all out, but if you hadn’t put in a few bids then Luke would have won.”

Upon hearing the name, Thomas sneered. “That was never an option, Danny. I knew Blake would organise something.”

Danny smiled. “Oh, come on. You don’t have to pretend. I know that, secretly, you were enjoying it. You didn’t know that Ethan would win, so you were seriously considering that you might, and you were looking forward to that, weren’t you? Besides, you kept bidding once he was back in.”

Thomas narrowed his eyes. “You know that’s because Byrd was just trying to drive up the price. I knew that Blake would continue to outbid me.”

“Because you know I’m worth that much?”

“Because I know  _he_  thinks you are.”

Danny sighed with exasperation. “Admit it. You liked having the upper hand, while it lasted. You liked the idea of winning me.”

“There’s nothing to admit, Danny. Now, enjoy your night. Your date’s waiting.”

Thomas straightened his jacket and moved to walk away, but Danny gripped his arm tighter. He quickly looked over at Ethan and Chris and, seeing that they weren’t paying the slightest attention to anyone besides each other, he leant up to press a hard kiss against Thomas’ lips. For a moment he felt Thomas kiss him back, before they drew apart.

“ _Danny!_ ” Thomas hissed. “ _What the hell do you think you’re doing?_ ”

“Shhh.” Danny looked back over at the others who, fortunately, hadn’t noticed. “Thank you for saving me, Thomas.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll see you in class next week.” Danny gave Thomas a final kiss on the cheek, before releasing his arm. Thomas turned and strode out of the room, but not before Danny caught sight of a small smile on his face. Grinning, he walked back over to Ethan and Chris, who seemed to be discussing the date.

“--I’m paying for more than two thirds of this, so it only makes sense that I get to take him for at least three hours,” Chris was arguing.

Ethan shook his head. “If you wanted to buy a date with him, you should have come and bid for him yourself. $7000 is more money for me than $18,000 is for you, anyway, so there’s no way I’m giving him up after two hours.”

“Fine, we’ll go fifty-fifty. Two and a half hours each and I get the second half.”

“No way!” Ethan growled. “There’s no chance you’ll let him go at midnight if he’s with you then.”

Chris laughed shortly. “I’m not gonna force him to stay with me. If he wants to stay back at mine afterwards, that’s his business.”

“Yeah, and why do you deserve him more than me?” Ethan countered, folding his arms.

“It  _might_  have something to do with the fact that that I’ve paid more than twice what you have.” Chris folded his arms in reply.

“Oh, because you’re  _so_  rich so you  _automatically_  win?” Ethan responded, bitterly.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Danny stepped between them and held up his hands. “Easy! However nice it is to have two gorgeous young men fighting over me, you’re not exactly getting anywhere, are you?” He paused, letting them relax. “Alright. We need to compromise here. Obviously it’s not fair if I spend the night with Chris, because it’s Ethan who technically won the auction, but I can’t spend it with him either, because Chris  _did_  pay quite a bit of money.” They both nodded. “ _So_ … What if the three of us spent the time all together?”

There was a short silence, before Ethan and Chris started speaking at the same time.

“I’m not spending five hours with  _him_ \--”

“Maybe  _you’d_  like that, but that’s not  _my_  idea of a fun night--”

Danny groaned. “ _Guys!_ ” he shouted, instantly silencing them. “In terms of actual value, sure, Chris paid more, but, really, $7000 means more to Ethan than $18,000 does to Chris. There’s no way of working this out fairly, unless you two both just compromise.  _I’m_  gonna go find a nice restaurant and grab some dinner. Hopefully both of you can swallow your pride for long enough to join me.”

Without looking back at them, he strode out of the lobby and into the evening air outside. He raised an eyebrow at the limo parked a few meters down the street, sure that it was Chris’, and began to consider restaurant options in his mind.

He sighed, beginning to walk down the street, until he heard running footsteps behind him and someone grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

“We’re sorry, Danny,” Ethan panted. “We’ll make this work.”

Chris, standing behind him, nodded. “I know a nice Italian restaurant a few minutes’ drive away that we can go to, if you want.” Danny thought of when Chris had taken him to Italy and gave him a bemused look. That was probably what he was trying to remind Danny of, given how romantic it had been.

Ethan shrugged. “That sounds nice. Danny?”

Danny nodded. “Sure.”

In Chris’ limo, Danny sat across from the two other men, and the three of them sat awkwardly. Well, Ethan and Chris looked awkward to Danny. Danny was amused. He looked between Chris, who was fiddling with part of his shirt, and Ethan, who had his arms folded and was staring down at the floor, and gave a small chuckle.

“If you two hadn’t paid so much for me, I’d probably just go back home,” he mused. “I thought with that price you’d be more interested.”

They both looked up.

“Of course I’m interested,” Ethan said quickly. “I just expected to have this night alone with you.”

“You could always have it alone,” Chris muttered.

“God, I’d’ve been better off with Luke,” Danny grumbled. At the protest of both other men, he shook his head. “Well, with Hunt, at least.”

Ethan glared hard at the ground and Chris looked confused, but didn’t say anything.

“We could always do this over two nights,” Ethan suggested quietly. “I’ve got you for tonight and then Chris can have you tomorrow.”

“Nobody can  _have_  me,” Danny replied sharply. “Tonight you both paid for me and can rightly do what you want, within reason, but you don’t  _own_  me, and especially not after midnight.  _Tomorrow_  I’ll do whatever the hell I want.”

“What, you don’t want to spend it with me?” Chris asked.

“Seriously?” Danny exclaimed. “That’s not even the point! Can’t you two just get along for  _one night?_  You’re fine on set together, so why can’t you act more professionally with me?”

Ethan folded his arms. “I’d hardly call a date ‘professional’.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re fine dating a heap of people all at once, but I’m really not into this,” Chris added.

“I’m not asking you to date each other!”

“Well, I can’t date you with him here,” Ethan said firmly.

Danny scoffed. “Oh, grow up!”

“Maybe you should grow up and pick someone,” Chris muttered.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Danny tapped on the screen between their seats and the driver of the limo. “Could you please pull over?”

A few seconds later, the limo pulled to a stop and Danny shoved the door open, climbing out and slamming it shut again behind him. He stormed down the street, pulling out his phone to find out where he was and the location of the nearest bus stop, and he was relieved to see that he could get back to his dorm within the half hour. He had no idea what he was going to do when he got there, but all he wanted to do was get away from Ethan and Chris.


End file.
